Movable abutment for container vehicles



Jan. 22, 1935. F. w. HANKINS ET AL MOVABLE ABUTMENT FOR CONTAINER VEHICLES Filed Aug. 10, 1955 Z SheetS-Sheet 1 KJQ\% 'WAm/WWW I N VEN TOR 5: Jr 71471511113116 &

Tram i0 BY Fmdarwi: 71. fildw,

ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 22, 1935.

F. HANKINS ET AL MOVABLE ABUTMENT FOR CONTAINER VEHICLES Filed Aug. 16, 1955 FIG I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1:7: Kiwi/1M5, {EL 4% rrozamzys.

Patented Jan. 22, 1935 VEHICLES W; Hankins, Philadelphia, and Fred erick K. FildCSyAltOOllfi, Pa.

' Frederick Application August 10, 1933, Serial No. 684,483

8 Claims. (01. -366) This invention relates to movable seating abutments for container vehicles, and more particularly to seat forming abutments or seating abutments adapted for engagement with the base portions of containers and mounted for movement along the platform of the carrying vehicle in such manner as to afford adjustable stops for holding the containers against shifting. 1

One object of the invention is to provide in a container vehicle, va series of abutments which define seats for one or more containers and which may be individually moved toward or away Irom the sides of the car to accommodate containers of varying width. v

. Another object ofthe-invention is to provide trackways for guiding. the movement of such abutments, the trackways extending along the top surface of the vehicle platform and over the side edges thereof, whereby the abutments may be moved to positions in which they offerno ob-' struction to the lateralv shifting of containers onto or off the vehicle.

Other objects andadvantages characterizin our invention will become more fully apparent from the description hereinafter set forth of one embodiment or example of theinvention, having reference to the accompanying drawings, where: of:

Fig. I represents a part side elevationof a rail- Wayiiat car fitted with container seatingabut ments of our invention. v i H Fig. II represents a cross section of the same, taken as indicated by the lines II II of Fig. I, with certain of the parts broken away for clearness of illustration. 7 i v w J Fig. III represents an enlarged plan view of one containerseating abutment and" surrounding portions of the railway car. f

Fig.'IV represents a cross section, taken as in dicated by the lines IV-IV ofFig. III.

Fig. V'repre'sents a cross section, taken as indicated by the lines V-'-Vof Fig". III.

Fig; VI represents a eros's'section, taken as in-v dicated by the lines VIVI oi'Fig; III;

Fig. VII represents" a perspective view of one ofthe container seating abutments.

With reference to Fig. I of "the drawings, the numeral ldesignates comprehensively a portion of a. railroad flat car, and 2 the floor or platform thereof. At spaced intervals-along the length of the car and at each side thereof, trackways are provided, constructed in the'manner hereinafter described, and associated" with each trackway thereis a container seating abutment 3. The container seating abutments are movable individually in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the car a limited distance'fromthe side sills 4 and collectively serve to define seats for containers 0! varying base dimensions.

Each trackway' used for guiding the movement of acontainer seating abutment 3,-i'n the illus trated example of our invention, is formed or a pairof Z-bars-5 inlaid in the carfloor. The 2- bars 5 are disposed in opposite spaced; relation with their lower flanges 6 riveted to the underframe of the car, and with their upper flanges 7 disposed in the plane of the top surface of the car platform and projecting towards each other. At then-inner endsthe Z-bars 5- are supported on a longitudinal beam 8' comprising a part ofthe car under-frame, and at their-outer ends-the '2- bars 5 are supported upon the side sills 4. Attached to the web or each; side'sill 4', thereare ver tically extending z-bar sections 9 which form continuations of the Z-bars 5, extending at right angles thereto downward along. the side sills of the car; The Z-bar sections 9 have their outer flanges 10 riveted to the side sills 4 and have their inner flanges 1r projecting towards-each other at a spaced distance apart. 1 The inner flanges 11 of the 'z-bar' sections 9 at their upper ends join. the flanges '7 of the z barst, and at theiriower ends are turnedinward in. a horizontal plane as indicatedet 1 2, to form a pocket which serves to prevent removel of the container seating abutments 3. from the car. 'At the inner endsrof the z-bars 5, adjacent to the longitudinal beams 8, the z-bars or each trackway: are cross-connected by a yoke As most clearly shown in Figd'vll, the container seating abutments 3 are in the form of castings or substantially 'T-shaped crosses'ection, having a central transversely extending portion 16 and having 'alongitudinally extending wall 1'7 which defines therewith two'right angular pockets for accommodating cornersof two adjacent containers, such as represented at A in the drawings. The central transversely extending portion 16 has inclined surfaces 18- at the top thereof, and the longitudinally extending wall-1'7 has an inclined 45 the wall 21 of the central portion '16, each 'c'o'n tainer seating abutment 3 is formed with key--- hole slots 22 which are relatively wide near the top and relatively narrow near the bottom.

Moreover, at the base of each container seating abutment 3, there is formed. a-nut retaining pocket 23. Associated with each trackway, there is provided a screw 24 which hasanenlarged head 25 at itsrinnerend in ,engagementwith the yoke 15 which connects {each pair of Z-bars 5.. The screw 24 passes through fulcrumedon the yoke 15,. and-in its normal position extends centrally between the Z-bars 5,just beneath the top surface of the car platform 2, see Fig. IV. Each screw 24 has thereon an elongated rectangular nut 26 engaging its threadedportion; .Each screw 24 at its outer end isof-square or nuts shaped cross-section, as'indicatedat 27, so that it may be engaged by a socketed hand crank. Normally the nut .26 associated with the screw 24 fits snugly. within the pocket 23 ,of thecontainer seating abutment 3 and is. so. confined that incident .to the turning of j the screw,-the-abut ment will. be progressed inwardly or outwardly along the trackway. Howeventhe nut 26 may, when desired, betwithdrawn from its pocket 23 with upwardswinging of the screw 24, fulcruming on the yoke 15. -By swinging the outer end of the screw 24 in an upward direction, with removal of'the nut 26 from its pocket 23,. and .by turning the nut 26 through an angle of .90", so that its long axis. extends ina vertical direction, afcontainer seating abutment 3 may be released from its screw 24, with the nut 26 passing through the keyholeslots 22 at their relatively'wide portions.- With a container, seating abutment} has thus been released from its actuating screw 24, andpassedover the. endythereof, itmay, in an obvious manner, be passed downward over the side sill 4 of .the car to the position indicated in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. V.

The operation of the. container seating abutments 3 will be. apparent from the above :description. It will be. particularly noted, however, that by application of a socketed hand crank to the actuating screw- 24, the abutments 3. may be moved inwardly or outwardly so that they assume the desired positions for accommodating the base portions of the containers to be carriedon the car, such: positions depending upon the width of the-containers. Inasmuch as the screws. 24 have threads of relative short pitch, each abutment 3 in effect locked to the car except when its screww24 is beingrotated. More over, not .onlyare the abutments 3 maintained rigidly .in the desired position transversely of the car,.but by virtue of the engagement of their wings- 20 with the .Z-bars they are effectively restrained against tipping to one side or the other in adirection longitudinal of .the car.

Wherecontainers are handled at large transfer stationsby means of overhead cranes, it is not ordinarily necessary to change the positions of the container seating abutments 3, provided of course that all the containers being handled are of standard base dimensions. However, it frequently happens that containers have to be shifted onto or off railroad cars at Wayside stations where large crane facilities are not available. With. certain typesof container transfer apparatus used at. such wayside stations, including particularly apparatus in which hand-operated hoists are employed, it is desirable that are container seating abutments 3 be moved out of the way to facilitate the shifting of containers onto or off a car; and where the shifting is accomplished bysuch transfer apparatus, the seating abutments 3 are moved outwardly over the side edges of the car and downward along the side sills 4 to positions beneath the car platform 2. This enables the hoist operator to shift containers without having to raise and lower the, containers more than a very short distance. For example, ifit be desired to shift containers A from a railway car to an adjacent platform, the operator will first proceed to move all of the seating abutments 3 clear of the car platform 2. Then each container may be raised only an inch or so by the hand-operated hoist preparatory to shifting it from the'car to the adjoining platform. Furthermore, it will be readily seen that where nohoist facilities are available, by removal of the container seating abutments 3 to positions clear of the car platform 2 as shown in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. V, it is possibleto manually shove a container onto or off' the car without interference on the part of the container seating abutments.

While we have describedone example of the practice of our invention, andhave referred to one particular form of car construction which is desirably employed, it will be apparent that many changes may be madein the form of the trackways and container abutments herein described'without'departing from the spirit of our invention as defined in the annexed claims. I Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a container carrying vehicle, a platform, a container seat forming abutment movable on said platform, means for guiding said abutment for travel along the top surface-of the platform and over an edge thereof to a position beneath the top surface, and means whereby said abutment may be'locke'd to the platform at varying distances from the edge thereof.

2. In a container carrying vehicle, a platform, a containerseat forming abutment movable on said platform, means for guiding said abutment for travel along the top surface of the platform and over an edge thereof, and meansv whereby said abutment may be mechanically progressed along the platform and locked thereto at varying distances from the edge thereof. I I

3. In a container carrying vehicle, a platform, a container seat forming abutment movable on said platform,'a trackway for guiding said abutment along the top surface of the platform and over an edge thereof to a position beneath the top surface, and a screw for moving said abutment along said trackway.

m a container carrying vehicle, a platform, side sills, and a container seat forming abutment movable on said platform, a trackway for guiding said abutment along the top surface of the platform transversely thereof to a side sill and then downward along the side sill to a position beneath the platform, and a screw for moving said abutment along said trackway.

5. In a container carrying vehicle, a platform, a container seat forming abutment movable on said platform, a trackway inlaid in the platform and serving as a guide for said abutment, said trackway extending inwardly from the side edge of the platform and transversely thereof, a screw extending along said trackway, and a nut engaging the threads of said screw, said nut being normally connected to said abutment whereby turning of the screw will cause the abutment to be moved along the trackway, and said nut being adapted to be disconnected from said abutment whereby the abutment may be moved beyond the side edge of the platform.

6. In a container carrying vehicle, a platform, a container seat forming abutment movable on said platform, a trackway for guiding said abutment for travel transversely along the platform to a side edge thereof, a screw fulcrumed on said platform and normally extending along said trackway, and a nut engaging the threads of said screw, said nut being normally connected to said abutment whereby turning of the screw will cause the abutment to be moved along the trackway, and said abutment having a keyhole slot through which said nut will pass when said screw is swung about its fulcrum point, whereby the abutment may be moved beyond the side edge of the platform.

7. In a container carrying vehicle, a platform, a container seat forming abutment movable on said platform, said abutment defining corner seats for two adjacent containers and having wings projecting at opposite sides of its base, and a trackway on said platform formed of a pair of bars having flanges spaced apart and lying in the plane of the top surface of the platform, said flanges engaging the top surfaces of the wings of said abutment and guiding said abutment for travel along the platform.

8. In a container carrying vehicle, a platform, a container seat forming abutment movable on said platform, said abutment defining a corner seat for a container and having wings projecting at opposite sides of its base, and a trackway on said platform formed of a pair of bars having flanges spaced apart and extending in the plane of the top surface of the platform to a side edge thereof and then downward along the side of the vehicle, said flanges engaging the top surfaces of said wings and guiding said abutment for travel along the platform and over the side FREDERICK W. HANKINS. FREDERICK K. FILDES. 

